5 steps Barcelona must take to win the Champions League next season

#1 Limit Messi dependence

La Pulga

Lionel Messi is unarguably one of the greatest players in history and the greatest to ever put on the famous colours of Barcelona.

It, therefore, stands to reason that the club should build around the mercurial Argentine, and rightly so, as 38 major honours have been won ever since the Barcelona icon made his Blaugrana debut.

With 48 goals in all competitions this season, he is by far the club's most potent goal threat, while his 22 assists are also significantly more than anybody else managed this term.

Messi's impact can largely be felt in that they look nowhere as dangerous when he is not in the starting lineup and the Rosario native has more than bailed Barca out on a number of occasions.

For as long as Messi is on his mojo, this dependence is not too much of a problem, but this proves a conundrum when he is uncharacteristically off-colour.

This much is evident in the Champions League where Barcelona went three consecutive seasons without qualifying past the last eight, and it came as no surprise that Lionel Messi failed to score in each of those disastrous fixtures.

The club will always rely on Messi to bail them out, his status as an all-time great guarantees that, but there should be a limit to how much they rely on him to provide inspiration, and other players should begin to take the mantle in his absence. This could be the difference between success next season on the continent and another campaign filled with disappointment.